Field is the author of "A Great Leap Forward," a book that makes the case that technological progress during the 1930s helped pave the way for the post-World War II economic boom times. In an interview with New York Times blogger David Leonhardt, Field discusses how 1930s-era innovations in aviation, automobiles (including the electric transmission and power steering) communications (TV would be the big one there) and other fields helped the country succeed militarily in World War II and made later productivity leaps possible in the U.S. economy.

Field is coming as part of the Phi Beta Kappa's visiting scholar program. His talk is free and open to the public.